


The Rude of Heart

by sieghart



Category: TREASURE (Korea Band), YG Entertainment | YG Family, YG Treasure Box (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, And Gets to End up with The Guy in the End ;), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drummer!Hyunsuk, F/M, Gen, Hyunsuk is Bi Here, Hyunsuk is Melancholic for the Most Part, I Shot Myself in the Foot, M/M, Pitcher!Jihoon, Platonic Soulmates, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, This AU Has So Many World Building Points
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 12:48:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29999583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sieghart/pseuds/sieghart
Summary: Hyunsuk’s life is spent coming to terms that his soulmate is matched to someone else.
Relationships: Choi Hyunsuk/Ha Yoonbin, Choi Hyunsuk/Jeon HoYeon, Choi Hyunsuk/Park Jihoon, Kim Junkyu/Park Jihoon
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	The Rude of Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [title](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10670871) by [victortor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/victortor/pseuds/victortor). 



> \+ please bear with me & stay with me, there's happiness at the end I promise +

The appearance of soul marks comes as a burn in your flesh—white hot flash that lasts until the name of your romantic partner finishes being spelled out, and the name becomes a wound on your skin. It inflames for a day or two, which somehow makes you think that this is the person you’ll _burn for_ one day, swells with tissue growth for the next hours after the inflammation, until the mark forms a scar below the folds of your wrist, the scar that is the _name_ , placed directly above your pulse, where your heart can be felt beating.

Choi Hyunsuk receives his soul mark at the tender age of five and cries for hours because it stings and his mother buys him a mint chocolate ice cream to soothe his troubles even though it’s not his favorite flavor. He basically learns how to write _the name_ at the same time that he is learning how to write his own, so his worksheets are full of crooked scrawls of _Park Jihoon._

Until he gets better at it.

Until he gets better.

His dad explains his soulmate as his “other half”.

_But what’s an “other half” if he’s whole?_

His mom explains it as him having a “strong bond” with another person.

_Does this mean he’ll develop weak bonds with others?_

His parents laugh at his questions and quells his curiosity of “we’ll explain more once you grow up,” so Hyunsuk dreams he’d grow up fast.

(He shouldn’t have in the first place.)

Inches by inches, he learns that some people live without a name scarred on their pulse, while some have multiple names. Feet by feet, he discovers that people may be matched with those who are long gone, while others are matched to those who are not even born yet in their current lifetime. Meters by meters, Hyunsuk realizes how soul marks alienate, hurt, and cage people and he worries himself sick where in those pictures he may fall into.

When fated pairs come of age at 19-years-old, they may communicate with each other by writing on their own skin as their scribbles appear on their other half’s skin as well, but the practice long dwindled with the advent of technology and smartphones. It sounds like an urban legend too, if only Hyunsuk didn’t have his own parents to show for, whom he grew up watching exchanging short missives on their arms whenever they feel playful, or at times when they’re too angry to talk out loud with each other. It isn’t any wonder then that as soon as the clock strikes 12 for Hyunsuk’s 19th birthday, the cap from his pen is already removed and dangles between his lips while its tip with the ink hovers over his left arm.

 _Hello?_ he decides to write on his forearm.

 _Park Jihoon!_ he adds after a full minute.

He then waits some more, but the minutes turn to half an hour so he bounces back to his bed and stares at his hand against the purple ceiling lights of his room.

He hears his mom knock on the door before opening it as she knows he doesn’t keep it locked.

“Did Jihoonie respond to you yet?”

It jolts Hyunsuk something off, because he hears affection in her voice whenever she mentions his soulmate’s name—granted they don’t talk about it all that much—there’s still a suspension of belief all things considered: like, Park Jihoon is nothing more than a few letters inked on his skin like a tattoo until he’s brought to life whenever he’s mentioned within his hearing, by his parents who wonder what it feels like to have a second son, by his classmates who are concerned whether he’s dating anyone or if he wants to date around despite having a fated match, by his friends who second guess how this Park Jihoon will fit perfectly into Hyunsuk’s life, as if they can see Hyunsuk’s edges and corners that Jihoon will slide into place with his own loops and sockets, the two puzzle pieces that they are. 

Hyunsuk remembers to respond to his mom with a shake of his head and settles into her expression of self-reflection.

She tilts her head to the side and says matter-of-factly, “That must mean he isn’t 19 yet. He can’t receive your messages and he won’t be able to write back to you… But how young do you think he is right now?”

Hyunsuk just shrugs.

“You know your father had to wait six years for me?” his mom opens for a conversation as she sits on the edge of his bed and pats his duvet. The son rises to sit next to his mother then, and lets her drone on for a story of how she and his dad met (which he has heard countless of times already) before their talk drifts on how he plans to spend his coming-of-age celebration.

It’s no big deal if Park Jihoon can’t answer him yet, Hyunsuk thinks, and resolves to wash off the writings on his hand first thing in the morning. 

(It turns out a _big deal_ after all, a year and nine months later, the _deal-breaker_ kind, Hyunsuk finds out.)

He’s playing FIFA 20 with Byoung-gon and Seunghun _hyung_ in his room on the 2nd day of _Chuseok_ as the two failed to book flights to go back to their own hometowns for the said national holiday, when black ink starts to surface on Hyunsuk’s left elbow and downwards. Byoung-gon notices it first since he’s on his left side and shakes him hard to make him lose his grip on the controls just as he’s ready to pull off a timed finishing and be rewarded with scoring more goals.

His shout of annoyance is cut short when he looks down on his arm and sees letters being scribbled out, Hyunsuk’s heart leaps to his mouth and he feels cold sweat pop on his forehead.

The letters form to say, _Knock, knock!_ and Byoung-gon yells as if Hyunsuk made the score in the end, just in time for Seunghun to grasp the commotion happening around him. The latter stands on his feet at once, all the while chanting _ya! ya! ya!_ and pointing at Hyunsuk then to his arm, then back at Hyunsuk again as if he’s possessed. The youngest of the three and the center of the spectacle tries to break free from Byoung-gon’s tight grip on the collar of his t-shirt to reach for a pen, any pen, any writing instrument lying around his room— _dammit!_ —and his _hyung_ practically drags his shirt and his body with it when the guy spots a red sharpie on top of a Nike shoe box.

He throws the sharpie to Hyunsuk and he manages to catch it by the tips of his fingers. Just as he’s scrambling to open it and prays at the same time that the ink isn’t all dried up yet, there are new letters appearing on his left arm in rapid succession:

_Who’s there?_

_Park Jihoon!_

_Park Jihoon, who?_

_Your Park Jihoon._

_Your forever._

_And yours is Kim Junkyu!_

_Alright, I’ll see myself out._

_Hey—_

_Hey!_

_Hey?_

_ㅋㅋㅋㅋ_

Hyunsuk didn’t get it for the longest time, and he looks towards Seunghun who plops down next to him all quiet now, and he turns towards Byoung-gon whose firm grip on his collar turns slack now. He watches their faces with a smile _at_ and _for_ him morph into subdued expressions. Only then did he understand that there’s someone else replying to his soulmate, only then did he comprehend that while Park Jihoon is his fated match, it didn’t mean he’s the guy’s other half. The heart that is caught in his mouth before now sinks to the bottom of his stomach, and Hyunsuk feels like vomiting. When Seunghun tries to part his lips, the younger guy only shakes his head, wobbly stands and gives Byoung-gon a reassuring pat on his shoulder and goes to his bathroom to wash off the words on his arm, to rub out the evidence of what just happened and regrets… regrets that though the soap and warm water erases _their_ words on his skin, Park Jihoon lies skin-deep.

When he finally emerges from his bathroom, his PS4 is already shut down, Byoung-gon _hyung_ is busy arranging plates of _japchae_ and _jeon_ on his coffee table while Seunghun _hyung_ raises bottles of rice wine for him to see. Hyunsuk blinks back his tears. They may not be considered his “other-halves” but they definitely are a part of his heart.

From then on, Hyunsuk’s life is spent coming to terms that his soulmate is matched to someone else.

He prefers to wear long-sleeved polo, long-sleeved shirt, long-sleeved sweatshirt and long-sleeved hoodies now—anything to cover his arms should Park Jihoon and _his_ Kim Junkyu decide to talk over the surface of their skins. And yet, the distance he has painstakingly set is drawn close every time he turns and trips on his clumsy heart: he spies from the corner of his eyes Jihoon saying to Junkyu that he lives in Busan, that he turned 19 last March 14 and he’s planning to write to his soulmate sooner that year but suffered olecranon fracture that took three months to heal, not to mention the time he’s spent in physical therapy. Jihoon teases Junkyu whether he knows which sports his injury is related to and their back and forth starts to consist of throwing every sport Junkyu knows until Jihoon admits on the fifth try that it’s baseball _indeed_ and he’s a starting pitcher for his high school team. A few weeks after, Hyunsuk learns while taking a shower after a friendly match of football with the neighborhood kids that Jihoon’s riding a full scholarship at Yonsei University to be one of their baseball players next school year. He clamps down the immediate feeling of pride in his chest at the news and hurries to rinse off the shampoo from his wet hair to start scrubbing his upper body all over again. Hyunsuk discovers months later during band practice with Byoung-gon and Seunghun, that Jihoon is out shopping with his older brother for longboards since the latter broke _his_ when his _hyung_ crashed it into a seawall as they were skating along the harbor. Junkyu teases him that trouble is in their blood and Jihoon retorts that “ _this_ trouble” will find him someday and he better prepare for it. Hyunsuk grips his drumsticks tightly then and if his hitting of the snare too hard causes it to de-tune when they’re only halfway in finishing the song, Byoung-gon and Seunghun are wise not to comment on it. (It also reinforces that short-sleeved t-shirts during band practice is a no-go from then on.)

A few months still, Hyunsuk settles on his plane seat comfortably, his little sister to his left and his mother to his right while his father is assigned to the seat after the aisle. They’re going to New York for a vacation and since he had a full sleep before their flight, he has 13 hours to kill while they’re airborne. He’s just wiping the palms of his hands with wet towel when words popped up on his forearm. Jihoon is hastily telling Junkyu to watch _My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday_ over and over but Junkyu isn’t replying at the time, seems busy with his regular scheduled gaming, and Hyunsuk’s ready to wipe his hands again when his sister notices it and asks what _Jihoonie_ ’s telling him. _Nobody_ in his family knows his current circumstance. He’s made excuses and made-up scenarios whenever they spot the scrawls on his skin. He isn’t ready to tell them his heartache, isn’t ready yet to own-up that it’s indeed a _heartache_. So just as before, he scans the letters and reads them to his sister as if the words are meant for him. Their 13-hour flight now consists of watching a Japanese melodrama-movie Jihoon’s suggested and for the 2 hours it took off in their flight time, the movie also made him, his little sister, and his mom shed a few tears.

For the record, everything Hyunsuk knows about Park Jihoon, he knows against his will. As seasons change and the calendar hanging in his room is replaced for a new one, he tries to catalogue the pieces of information he learns of the guy as nothing more than _odds and ends_ —he writes a lot which means he talks a mile, he surfs with his older brother, he once dreamed of becoming a pilot, he collects flower petals when he’s on his run and preserves them by pressing and vacuum sealing, he hates Hawaiian pizza—sure to guard his heart as it’s all Hyunsuk’s left with, he wishes the words on his skin would _just_ stop resurfacing. But Jihoon has a penchant for sentimentality he comes to know, when he refuses to give Junkyu any of his contact details nor social media accounts, wants for their first get-together to be a _meet-cute_ , like those in rom-coms. It’s close to _torture_ is what it is, because while Hyunsuk’s busy guarding his heart, the problem is that Jihoon persists in his mind too. He can’t even have the classic dilemma of _mind over heart_ when the guy practically owns both.

So, on his 21st birthday, Chan-hyuk _hyung_ drags Hyunsuk to a dog shelter and helps him adopt an American pit bull terrier, says that this particular breed is one of the sweetest and most emotional dogs out there and hopes it’d calm down the younger guy’s quiet distress. Hyunsuk hugs his _hyung_ tightly and sobs to his shoulder in return. He then names the pit bull terrier, _Dwaeji_ , and loves her openly with the rest of his heart.

Eventually, Hyunsuk gets the hang of having Park Jihoon for a soulmate that-isn’t-meant-to-be… _eventually_. He develops the habit of looking away while he washes his arms clean of conversations written by Jihoon and Junkyu because he shouldn’t be privy to these in the first place.

To Park Jihoon, he’s nothing more than just a _stranger_ , an outsider with a window to his soul who can only _look in_ , and if the roles are reversed, Hyunsuk likes to think that Jihoon is the kind of person who’ll keep his privacy.

Suhyun suggests that Hyunsuk flirt or date around, that just because he knows his fated match is for someone else doesn’t necessarily mean he can’t form any sort of romantic relationships with other people, _fights_ that he deserves to hold hands with someone while walking, someone to argue with on who gets to have the last piece of chicken wings, someone to call when he’s bored of the movie he’s watching on Netflix, someone to wait and fetch at the bus stop, so she creates accounts for him in various dating sites and Hyunsuk humors her because she’s a dear friend. They spend their afternoon eating burgers in the park then, Dwaeji at their feet snoring softly, and swiping right to girls and boys he might be interested in.

It’s a year later that Hyunsuk takes Suhyun’s proposition seriously and decides to take Ben out for a date. He knows Ben from their gigs in Club BBang. He’s a male soloist, a recent addition to their club’s line-up, but the way he spits his words for a rap stirs something in Hyunsuk’s chest and definitely to others too because he notices the crowd growing whenever he’s up. He has a cute eye smile that makes things easier anyhow but Hyunsuk’s heart somersets as the younger guy puts his chin on his palm and stares at him coolly. He starts to ramble on at the sight and explains why he’s asking him out until Ben dissolves into a laugh and says, “yes, of course I’d love to go out with you!” and he hears the next table where his bandmates (Byoung-gon, Seunghun, Chan-hyuk and Suhyun) are sitting, erupt into a cheer. Ben confesses next that they kind of spoiled the whole thing for him and he wants to tease Hyunsuk for it and the older guy feels the whole of his body blush.

They went out for half a year then and it’s _incredibly_ nice. Ben’s an attentive and thoughtful partner and he’s happy with him… it’s just that there’s still a specter of Park Jihoon between them and Hyunsuk thinks it’s unfair to the guy to keep things going when he starts envisioning a finish line for the two of them. He remembers Ben accepting things amicably but him stopping to show up at Club BBang to perform says more about what he really thinks of their breakup.

After Ben, after several months past calling it quits, Hyunsuk goes out with three more other guys consecutively as if he’s in a changing room trying out clothes and seeing which fits best for him. But the dates don’t last past the third or fourth and it’s always him who can’t sustain the interest for too long, for them to stick around for him, and for Hyunsuk to start to really care. The only silver lining to this miserable streak is though his heart wavers, their band’s music is gaining traction from the public when streams on their Spotify hit an all-time high, their songs are being played in local radio shows too and they’re being invited to perform in music festivals hosted by neighboring colleges.

Hyunsuk gets especially busy the next year when their band finally signs to the independent label HIGHGRND. They’re expected to release their first studio album in three months and he and Chan-hyuk start to live inside their studio just to wrap up their title tracks. It’s a welcome distraction against Jihoon and Junkyu’s constant and daily nagging on his arms, especially as the latter guy is currently in Japan for an exchange program and gets bored and lonely easily. Hyunsuk then meets Ho-yeon in the agency as their studios are just right next to each other and hangs out with her because she’s easy to talk to and listens to his and Chan-hyuk’s whining patiently. The hanging out turns to walking her to the train station, to picking her up at her dormitory to eat lunch with, to buying her coffee while they walk Dwaeji for his pet’s much needed exercise, to kisses as the first snow hits their land.

They’re together for two years until Hyunsuk hears the other shoe drop.

It frustrates him because being with Ho-yeon is being close to having a proper relationship where he doesn’t hold back showing ugly emotions, breaking the stereotypes of fairytale romances: he gets sad, angry, and disappointed. And then they make-up and work out the difficulties in their bond while putting their careers at the forefront, but between band rehearsals for their upcoming performances in Shanghai, Beijing, and Japan and Ho-yeon’s radio gigs and variety guesting, the dropping of the other shoe gets louder all the same.

He receives Ho-yeon’s call from the airport after they landed safely back to Korea and she asks him to meet her at Sinchon Station which is a quarter of an hour away. He goes to her still without a second thought, belatedly asking their manager to look after his belongings and to deliver them to his parent’s house since he wants to spend the break their band rightfully earned with his family. And at Caffebene where Hyunsuk and Ho-yeon used to enjoy going, she asks to be _let go_.

So, he did.

Hyunsuk finds himself killing time wandering the streets of Seongsan-ro that day until his feet ache from all the walk he’s done and the moon rises high above the sky. He’s ready to go home now so he boards a packed bus as he can’t wait anymore for the other one to arrive at Sinchon. He plants himself near the back where he thankfully finds two remaining empty seats and he’s just getting ready putting his airpods to his ears when two loud guys get inside the bus and sings Ho-yeon’s song, _Independence_. Hyunsuk huffs, a cross between a laugh and a sob, and settles with smiling dejectedly at himself. When he lifts his eyes back to the young rowdy guys, he notes that they are heading towards his side with a sway in their steps and concludes that they must be drunk out of their wits. The shorter one with a long face is supporting the other guy who looks to be close to passing out now, and yet has the strength to keep singing the words, “Now I eat rice without you again,” hands lifting as if he’s mimicking the action of lifting his chopsticks to his mouth.

Hyunsuk truly laughs now, along with the other passengers who are witness to the comical display before them. The shorter one blushes immediately so that must mean he’s not as drunk as Hyunsuk thinks of him, and he takes a pity on the guy and waves his hand to direct them to the empty seat beside him. The guy with the long face squints his eyes hard, the alcohol must be dulling his senses, but then he rushes to where Hyunsuk is and drags his taller companion with all his might. The shorter guy’s hands are now clamped shut on the other’s mouth to prevent any outburst from him and deposits him promptly next to Hyunsuk.

He turns towards his seatmate to see if the guy’s comfortable on his seat and up close, he can see a mole on his left cheek. When he stares back to the shorter one standing next to them and hovering worriedly, he recognizes the face in an instant and wonders why he didn’t so earlier. He blurts in surprise, “Ah, Yedamie!”

Yedam blinks at him for a second, then a minute, and before it turns to _several_ minutes, Hyunsuk points at himself saying, “It’s Hyunsuk _hyung_ from football camp?”

“Oh,” he answers dully. His face shifts into one of hard-thought and then repeats again, “Oh, Hyunsuk _hyung_ , second striker, Dwight School Seoul!”

Hyunsuk giggles because in his tipsy mind, Yedam still replies like a straight-A student, listing down things he remembers of that football camp as if he’s on recitation.

“Yeah, yeah! Nice to see you again, it’s been so long.”

The younger guy nods eagerly and smiles at his _hyung_ sheepishly while shooting furtive glances to his friend who’s now slowly drifting into deep slumber, head swaying from right to left, until Hyunsuk caught it in his right hand and places it down to his shoulder.

Yedam’s face creases as he cries out, “Ah _hyung_ that’s not necessary! Sorry for disturbing you—”

“It’s alright, it’s alright. Long day?” is Hyunsuk’s response with an indulgent smile. He’s fond of the kid when they were training together for football back then and it looks like he grew up playing football still based on his athlete’s tracksuit stitched with Yonsei University’s logo.

Yedam rolls his shoulder back in relief and nods. “This _hyung_ promised he won’t get drunk since he’s the one treating us, but he’s incredibly lightweight.”

Seems like the guy suffers from insomnia too due to the circles around his eyes, Hyunsuk observes, which is not the right pair when imbibing alcoholic drinks. “And you’re both heading back home now, no more bar hopping, I hope?”

His junior chuckles and shakes off his head vehemently. “No, no, his dorm’s near our house so I’m his designated driver… except we’re all out of cars right now.”

Hyunsuk cackles at the joke and spends the bus ride interrogating Yedam then and chats with him easily about his favorite FC teams, as if the years after that one summer camp did not separate them all that much.

He arrives home at the dead of night and he sees his mom and dad standing together in front of the kitchen sink, washing dishes hand in hand, murmuring softly, bantering lightly under the light of the overhead fixture, and wonders if he’ll ever have what they have—he knows now that keeping a relationship, fated or not, is hard work, a continuous labor of love.

Hyunsuk receives a call two weeks later from a number he doesn’t recognize and only hesitates for a few seconds before he drags the slider to the right.

“Hello?”

“Ah Hyunsuk _hyung_ , this is Bang Yedam.”

He instantly cheers to know who his caller is, “Ah, Yedamie!”

“Sorry I didn’t let you know I’ll be calling you first—”

Hyunsuk rushes to cut him off with, “It’s okay! It’s okay. How can I help you?”

“Are you busy right now _hyung_? Our team’s having a friendly match today with a group of outsiders for charity but they’re one player short and I thought of you and whether you’d like to join us?”

The older guy looks around the living room where Dwaeji plays with her chew toy and where his parents and sister are, busy watching their band’s recorded live act in Beijing. He shakes his head and mouths the response to Yedam, “No. That sounds fun. I can head out now Yedamie, what time is the game starting?”

“A little past 3pm. The club members are just busy finalizing the certificates we’ll hand out as proof of participation.”

He nods to his phone. “Okay, I’ll be there before three. Meet me at the gates?”

Hyunsuk can hear Yedam smile from the other end of the line. “Great, that’s great _hyung_. Thank you! I’ll make sure you have a great time,” and then the guy hears the mouthpiece being covered and a muddled _Alright, add in Choi Hyunsuk to the list please!_ is shouted to someone before Yedam returns to him, “And yes, I’ll see you at the gates. Call me when you’re there and I’ll come and get you _hyung_.”

“Alright. See ya!”

Yedam runs to Hyunsuk as soon as the younger guy spots him from the crowd. His brown hair is all tousled and he looks just a little out of breath.

The older guy steps up to reach for his head as soon as Yedam stands before him and pats it. “Ah, you’re working hard today, Yedamie.”

“ _Hyung_ ,” the athlete responds with much feeling, based on the jut of his lower lip. “The committee is a mess! The printed certificates haven’t arrived yet and they have yet to be signed by the club president and our adviser, and the school’s director for extracurricular activities, but we have dry seals prepared just in case—”

Hyunsuk opts to calm him down, “Nah, everything will be fine and everyone will have a good time. C’mon, lead me to your football field. It’s been so long since I last played and I’m excited to score some goals!”

And if there’s a little shake in Hyunsuk’s steps, that’s _due_ to a reminder that _someone else_ he knows is studying at Yonsei University presently. And if there are skips in his heartbeat just by the thought that he can be passing by that very _stranger that feels familiar,_ any minute that he walks inside the campus, he hides it by laughing at Yedam’s complaints, chimes to the younger guy's worries with pointers on how to address their committee's hitches. 

In the end, the charity event turns out to be a success. The certificates arrived just in time for the closing ceremony to be handed out to the committee’s donors and though Hyunsuk’s team lost, he manages to score many goals and lead the “outsiders” team to a considerable campaign against the Yonsei University football club. The two groups are already talking about eating out and having drinks later and Hyunsuk listens in on them as he changes out of his long-sleeved jersey that reeks of sweat and gets the biggest of surprises there ever is, in this world, when his left arm is laid bare to him with writings that covered it like another arm sleeve:

_KIM JUNKYU_

_KJ KJ KJ KJ KJ KJ_

_IF YOU’RE READING THIS ANSWER ME RN_

_why are you being loud_

_i’m having an exam rn_

_he’s here he’s here HE’S HERE_

_yedamie brought him_

_he says it’s a last resort because the team they’re playing with is 1 guy short_

_and they can’t start their charity event due to it_

_well *this* guy is short but anyways_

_I KNOW he brought him here because he wants to tease me_

_is this the guy_

_who let you sleep on his shoulder_

_when you were wasted as fuck_

_two weeks ago_

_y e s_

_OH HO_

_and is this the same guy_

_who turns out to be_

_A ROCKSTAR?_

_yes yes_ _ㅠㅠ_

_you shot yourself in the foot_

_that guy’s way out of your league_

_he has thousands of fans, and all that_

_but have I mentioned that I fell in love with him_

_while he’s talking about soccer clubs with yedamie that I know nothing of?_

_you’re sleeping at the time_

_you could’ve been dreaming_

_stop contradicting yourself_

_and stop being a loser_

_and stop pining around_

_for every choi hyunsuk you meet!!_

_I DON’T VERY MUCH LIKE YOUR TONE YOUNG MAN_

_you don’t even make a move_

_whenever you meet someone_

_whose name shares the same_

_as that of your soulmate_

_JUST BECAUSE YOU MET MASHIHO ALREADY_

_YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE RUDE_

_and for the record_

_none of those choi hyunsuk_

_is *my* choi hyunsuk_

_you know this_

_and have fun answering that test_

_that you didn’t even study for_

_don’t come crying to me_

_if this guy breaks your heart_

_ㅗㅗ_

Hyunsuk stares at the words, stares at them, and stares some more. It reads as if Park Jihoon is talking about him and that short-circuits his brain along with the air leaving his lungs. His immediate reaction is to yell Yedam’s name, the next is for him to look around his surroundings to spot his junior. He locates him bowing to their donors for the last time at the farther end of the field and he runs to him fast, faster than he ever did while playing earlier. He taps Yedam’s shoulder urgently and good thing he has just finished talking with people of import and he readily turns towards Hyunsuk with a worn-out but relieved smile.

“Do you know a Park Jihoon?” is the first thing he blurts out.

Yedam’s eyebrows rise too close to his hairline. “Uh, yes?”

“Is it the same drunk guy you’re with when I met you at the bus, two weeks ago?”

His junior nods in the affirmative.

Hyunsuk falters, “But he’s a soccer player?”

The younger guy crosses his arms to his chest and cocks his head to the side, his eyes shrinking as he looks at his _hyung_ cautiously, “No? He’s a baseball player. A starting pitcher here.”

Hyunsuk feels all the blood circulating from his foot swiftly travel to his head and out his ears and he stumbles just a little bit on his feet. “Do you have a pen?”

_This is Choi Hyunsuk._

_Your Choi Hyunsuk._

_I’m here at Yonsei University._

_I’m waiting by the grandstand near the football field._

_I’ll be waiting._

_So come to me._

He sees the silhouette of Park Jihoon first, before he sees his face because he’s walking towards him against the light of the sunset. And it’s fitting somehow because in his 24 years living on this earth, 19 of those he gets Jihoon’s shadow hovering over him, a constant thing that veils him, shrouds him, and wraps him. For the longest time, he thinks that's a bad thing.

Until it isn't.

It _isn't_ anymore.

Hyunsuk sniffs and he can’t believe that he’s crying of all things (actually he can, he's cried a hundred times for this guy) and when Jihoon stops short of coming close, he can see that his whole face is red, and he’s teary-eyed himself.

“You’re not dead,” is what Park Jihoon says to him first.

“Excuse me?”

As his answer, the guy raises his left wrist for him to see the name scarred above his pulse. _Choi Hyunsuk_ is written there with a strikethrough mark. This is an indicator for those who matched with someone long dead, and Hyunsuk sees _Junkyu_ next, under his own name, and again, having only the first name of your fated match indicates that the person is your platonic soulmate. Everything’s coming to light now just as dusk settles around them and Hyunsuk feels a bubble of mirth that’s entirely out of place between them—the journey he took for the last five years to be able to stand before Park Jihoon is nothing short of a miracle and the fruit of the biggest _mix-up_ too.

Hyunsuk snatches Jihoon’s wrist and feels the scars that forms his name on his other half’s skin with his thumb. “I remember my mom telling me I was a sickly child when she bore me. She wouldn’t tell me the complete details because it hurts her still after all these years, but dad said that after my birth I had no pulse for an hour or so, until I was revived.”

Jihoon remained quiet after that but Hyunsuk can feel that his eyes are trained on him.

He lifts his own eyes to Park Jihoon's face then, “What, seen a ghost?” and jokes dryly just to break the tension.

His soulmate snatches his arm back, turns away from him and shouts towards the football field now empty without loitering students, shouts as if he’s filling up a void. When he calms down, he turns back to Hyunsuk, his hands now firmly placed inside his pants pockets.

“For the longest time, I thought _you_ a ghost, chasing your apparitions into every Choi Hyunsuk I meet,” Jihoon confesses. He jerks his left arm to him, to the scribbles written on both of their skins, “You’ll know, by just how much I’ve written on it.”

Hyunsuk shakes his head at him. “I thought Junkyu _is_ your soulmate. The _romantic_ kind, it’s why I never wrote to you in the first place. And after, I tried so hard not to read your messages meant for Junkyu _only_.”

Jihoon looks doubtful for mere seconds, lips quivering, before he stretches his arms to his head and scratches at his hair. “Oh god, we’re a _pair_ of idiots.”

Hyunsuk’s grin threatens to break his face. “We’re a _set_ of fools!”

“We’re a _couple_ of halfwits.”

“We’re a _duo_ of blockheads.”

Jihoon’s smile is as wide as his. Hyunsuk reaches for his arm again so he can slide his fingers into his and his soulmate lets him and that feels _oh so right._ The ache in the older guy's heart turns dull then. “What now?”

“We only have the rest of our lives to figure _that_ out.” And Jihoon pulls at him so he's closer to his side as the two of them start to walk towards the sunset.

Hyunsuk hums. “Are you up for dinner? I’m starving.”

“How does _bossam_ and _jokbal_ sound?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“And ice cream later too?” Jihoon adds.

“I’ll treat you to a mint chocolate.”

His _other half_ fake-gasps, “How did you know that?!”

Hyunsuk smiles toothily, jerks the arm he’s holding and swings it upfront so the letters on it can be seen. “I have the best insider if you must know.”

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Thank you for following me on Twitter! TT TT  
> 2\. Soulmates AU is like, one of my fave tropes out there so ofc I'd write something about it for my fave pair <3  
> 3\. I've been writing this for a week! It's like I'm zapped with the SukHoon agenda all of a sudden and I get so many ideas, sooooooo many ideas that I hope to work out someday bec I really want to write Yesahi fics next~  
> 4\. also, big thank you for victortor's story "title" which played a big part on how I want my Soulmates AU-verse to be  
> 5\. Also, I'd like to apologise to the other characters/irl people I used & mentioned here (this is all fiction, please don't sue)  
> 5\. This is all for now, pretty please let me know your thoughts on this silly fic I wrote TT TT  
> 6\. Title came from Tired – Beabadoobee (I played this on repeat while writing this to get the mood I'm going for but I dunno if it translated well on paper)


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